Evolving relationship of Nares Strait ice arches on sea ice along the Strait and the North Water, the Arctic's most productive polynya.

ABSTRACT: Nares Strait, the waterway that separates northwest Greenland from Ellesmere Island, is a major pathway along which sea ice leaves the Arctic, including the planet's oldest and thickest sea ice that is experiencing an accelerated loss. Ice arches that develop during the winter at the Strait's northern or southern terminus can remain stable for months at a time during which the transport of sea ice ceases. The Arctic's most productive polynya, the North Water (NOW) or Pikialasorsuaq (West Greenlandic for 'great upwelling') forms at the Strait's southern end. There is evidence that a warming climate and the concomitant thinning of Arctic sea ice is weakening the arches and it has been proposed that this may impact the stability of NOW and the complex ecosystem that it sustains. Here we emplo

SUBMITTER: Moore GWK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10276818 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature